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Wednesday, 17 August 2016

Carnival Corporation and Port Everglades Extend Agreement to 2030

Carnival Corporation signed an addendum to one of its most strategic passenger terminal agreements, extending the contract through 2030 with an additional five years of sailings to and from Fort Lauderdale-based Port Everglades, one of the world's top three cruise ports. (PRNewsFoto/Carnival Corporation & plc)Carnival Corporation & plc

World's largest leisure travel company signs five-year addendum to extend original agreement and further its long-term commitment to the Fort Lauderdale-based port, one of the top three cruise ports in the world

Agreement includes preferential use of five terminals, including recently renovated terminal and berth to better serve passengers sailing on seven of company's global cruise line brands

MIAMI, Aug. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK), the world's largest leisure travel company, today signed an addendum to one of its most strategic passenger terminal agreements, extending the contract through 2030 with an additional five years of sailings to and from Fort Lauderdale-based Port Everglades, one of the world's top three cruise ports.

The addendum builds on the landmark 15-year agreement reached in 2010 with the Broward County Board of County Commissioners and furthers Carnival Corporation's commitment to Port Everglades, which overall has more than 3.6 million multi-day cruise passengers a year. Overall, the agreement and business generated from Carnival Corporation's brands operating at Port Everglades produces a significant positive economic impact for the port and county.

As part of the addendum, Carnival Corporation will have preferential use of Cruise Terminal 4, which reopened last year after $24 million worth of renovations and upgrades designed for greater efficiency and guest convenience.

Additionally, the port is currently undertaking an estimated $13.6 million slip extension project on Terminal 4, expected to be complete by the middle of 2017, that will lengthen the slip to accommodate larger cruise ships.

As part of the long-term agreement, the company also has preferential use of three additional terminals, Cruise Terminals 2, 21 and 26, along with one additional terminal. This provides five terminals in total for Carnival Corporation to serve its guests who visit Fort Lauderdale as part of their cruise vacation.

"Carnival Corporation is a critical Port Everglades partner, and its many unique cruise line brands offer guests sailing into and out of our port with a wide variety of cruise experiences and itineraries," said Steve Cernak, chief executive and port director of Port Everglades. "Carnival Corporation has a strong, long-standing presence in the Broward County community, and the additional five years included in the agreement reinforces that commitment. We look forward to welcoming the newest member of Holland America Line's fleet, ms Koningsdam, to our sunny shores in November."

Furthering its dedication to the port, the company will add a second ship from its Carnival Cruise Line brand, Carnival Splendor, to sail from Port Everglades during the 2017 summer season. In addition to Carnival Cruise Line, six more of Carnival Corporation's 10 global cruise line brands currently carry nearly a million and a half passengers to and from Port Everglades each year. These brands include Holland America Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, P&O Cruises UK, Princess Cruises and Seabourn. The seven Carnival Corporation brands and 28 different ships account for a combined average of more than 300 calls at the port each year.

"Florida is the largest cruise market in the world, and we are thrilled to extend our agreement with Port Everglades, which is an extremely convenient and popular location for our guests with close proximity to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and the Caribbean, the world's most popular region for cruise vacations," said Giora Israel, senior vice president of global port and destination development for Carnival Corporation. "We place great value on the long and successful relationship we have built with the port and Broward County, and we look forward to working together to meet our most important goal -- providing memorable vacation experiences for our guests for many years to come."

As part of the original agreement, the port undertook a $54 million cruise terminal renovation project to make significant improvements to four existing cruise terminals to accommodate ships from Carnival Corporation's fleet of global cruise line brands. Enhancements made as part of the project included features to enable simultaneous embarkation and debarkation processes, including two passenger loading bridges, separate and larger baggage halls and improved ground transportation areas. As part of the extension, Carnival Corporation and Port Everglades will engage in discussions to examine the opportunity for possible further improvements to Cruise Terminal 21 to accommodate Carnival Corporation's newest class of ships.

Together, these brands operate 101 ships visiting over 700 ports around the world and totaling 225,000 lower berths with 15 new ships scheduled to be delivered between 2016 and 2020. Carnival Corporation & plc also operates Holland America Princess Alaska Tours, the leading tour companies in Alaska and the Canadian Yukon. Traded on both the New York and London Stock Exchanges, Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&P500 and the FTSE 100 indices.

About Port EvergladesAs one of South Florida's leading economic powerhouses, Broward County's Port Everglades is the gateway for international trade and cruise vacations. Consistently ranked among the top three busiest cruise ports in the world, Port Everglades is also one of the nation's leading container ports and South Florida's main seaport for receiving petroleum products including gasoline, jet fuel and alternative fuels. The Port Everglades Department is a self-supporting Enterprise Fund of Broward County, Florida government with operating revenues of approximately $153 million in Fiscal Year 2015 (October 1, 2014 through September 30, 2015). It does not rely on local tax dollars for operations. The total value of economic activity related to Port Everglades is nearly $30 billion. More than 226,500 Florida jobs are impacted by the Port, including 12,840 people who work for companies that provide direct services to Port Everglades. For more information on Port Everglades, visit porteverglades.net or email PortEverglades@broward.org.

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